Important information about making a notification

Accidents and serious incidents (commonly called Immediately Reportable Matters), which affect the safety of aircraft must, in the first instance, be notified to the ATSB by telephone toll-free call 1800 011 034.

Accidents and serious incidents are required to be immediately notified to the ATSB in accordance with section 18 of the Transport Safety Investigation Act 2003. The ATSB collects information for the purposes of enhancing transport safety. The collection of aviation accident and incident information is required in connection with the Transport Safety Investigation Act 2003.

Written notifications are required to be submitted within 72 hours of an accident, serious incident or incident in accordance with section 19 of the Transport Safety Investigation Act 2003 and Regulation 2.6 of the Transport Safety Investigation Regulations 2003. The written notification should contain as much information about the accident, serious incident or incident as is within the knowledge of the person at the time of submitting the notification.

Disclosure of information (including personal information)Information may be disclosed to other organisations or individuals in the interests of safety. Where possible, the ATSB will remove information that directly identifies an individual (i.e. names, licence numbers and addresses). However, other indirect identifiers (i.e. times, dates and locations for the occurrence of incidents) will usually be disclosed in the interests of safety. If the information is the subject of an investigation it will only be used in accordance with the Transport Safety Investigation Act 2003. See also the ATSB’s Privacy Policy at www.atsb.gov.au.

Information disclosed to CASAThe ATSB and CASA have developed a mandatory notifications information sharing policy. The policy outlines the requirements for the information and provides advice on the manner in which it will be used when shared between the two agencies.

False or misleading reportsSubmission of information known by the reporter to be false or misleading is a serious offence under section 137.1 of the Criminal Code. Aiding, abetting, counselling, procuring or urging the submission of false or misleading information is also a serious offence.

PrivacyInformation may be disclosed to other organisations or individuals in the interests of safety. Where possible, the ATSB will remove information that directly identifies an individual (i.e. names, licence numbers and addresses). However, other indirect identifiers (i.e. times, dates and locations for the occurrence of incidents) will usually be disclosed in the interests of safety. If the information is the subject of an investigation it will only be used in accordance with the Transport Safety Investigation Act 2003. See also the ATSB’s Privacy Policy at www.atsb.gov.au.

Misleading ReportsSubmission of information known by the reporter to be false or misleading is a serious offence under section 137.1 of the Criminal Code. Aiding, abetting, counselling, procuring or urging the submission of false or misleading information is also a serious offence.